Digvijay Singh may surrender before court on 19th April

Guna (Madhya Pradesh): Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said on Saturday that he might surrender on April 19 in a court in Ujjain, which has issued non-bailable arrest warrant against him in connection with a case of alleged manhandling of BJP youth wing workers.

On July 17, 2011, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) workers had been chased and beaten up allegedly by Congressmen, including Digvijay Singh and Congress MP from Ujjain Premchand Guddu, when the workers tried to show them black flags protesting against a remark by Singh.

Following this, a case was registered against some Congress leaders. However, an application was later moved in the local court with a prayer to make Digvijay Singh and four others also accused in the case, after which the court had issued summons to them. However, Digvijay was unable to appear in the court due to his wife's death.

Defending himself on the issue, the Congress General Secretary told reporters that he was attacked by the BJP youth wing workers and in order to protect himself from them, the alleged manhandling took place.

Even though he had sought more time from the court, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in the case.

Digvijay said he would file an appeal in the High Court in the case. "However, if I still don't get any relief, I would surrender before the lower court on April 19," he said.

Terming Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as a "man of announcements", Digvijay said "he made over 8,000 announcements and out of them not even 800 were fulfilled."

"Even though Chouhan had announced relief to hail-frost and unseasonal rain-affected farmers, they were yet to get any compensation," he said.